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Imaginary Friend

Stephen Chbosky

3.53 · Rating details · 9,416 ratings · 2,561 reviews

Imagine... Leaving your house in the middle of the night. Knowing your mother is doing her best, but she's just as scared as you.

Imagine... Starting a new school, making friends. Seeing how happy it makes your mother. Hearing a voice, calling out to you.

Imagine... Following the signs, into the woods. Going missing for six days. Remembering nothing about what happened.

...more

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Hardcover, 720 pages

Published October 1st 2019 by Grand Central Publishing

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Oct 11, 2019 Nilufer Ozmekik rated it really liked it

Shelves: can-t-wait-to-read

I was so afraid of my contact lens numbers were going to be bigger than my irises after I finished this book (Give me a biggest Chardonnay break, my dear friends, this month I read “Institution”, “Gold Finch” and still working on “Priory of Orange Tree” which has also 800 pages. My red eyed image is still giving creeps to neighborhood kids and their mothers which is fine with me, I can eat trick or treat candies I’ve bough to serve them and I could also steal their M&M- only the red ones, I was so afraid of my contact lens numbers were going to be bigger than my irises after I finished this book (Give me a biggest Chardonnay break, my dear friends, this month I read “Institution”, “Gold Finch” and still working on “Priory of Orange Tree” which has also 800 pages. My red eyed image is still giving creeps to neighborhood kids and their mothers which is fine with me, I can eat trick or treat candies I’ve bough to serve them and I could also steal their M&M- only the red ones, they can have the others-)

I read too many bad reviews which gave me a little hesitation at first but come on, we’re talking about “Perks of Being a Wallflower” author! And horror is one of my favorite genre ( Before I got my caffeine intake in the mornings I look like Frakenstein’s bride with my all my hair in the air and raccoon eye make-up style so I get used to love horrific things )) Of course I was all in! I said bring it on this terrifying read. At least if I got bored, I could use it as dumbbell like I did with My KING’s “Stand” book. (Don’t get me wrong I love that book but after finishing it, I was looking like Dwayne Johnson’s big sister with my humongous biceps! My husband used them as pillows to rest his head and take quick naps!)

I can feel for the readers’ disappointment or frustration because of changing of writing, story-telling method of the author and focusing on different genre.
I actually confused too many times during my read and turned the cover to make sure that I was having the right writer’s book. Was I reading the right STEPHEN’s book? Was it not KING’s book, right? It is Chbosky book. I actually thought both authors were pulling a prank and at the end of the novel we could find an acknowledgment part confessing my KING pushed Chbosky away from his seat and started to touch the key pad like playing a horrific theme from Phantom of the Opera and wrote this book.

I mostly enjoy the writing even it was soooo looonnnggg and I dropped my dried contact lenses into my wine glasses and coffee mugs (of course drink choices changing daily and nightly!) and when I was multitasking like biting a scone and flipping the pages, I may have consumed some book pages as well and feeding my dogs with scone (they somersaulted and danced all day, like dogs like owners!)

But Christopher’s age is a little concerned me. At least he could be around 10- 12, maybe this age is a little old to have an imaginary friend but his age is too young to endure and fight against all those scary and haunted things he’d met. It hurt me to see him suffer too many times. (I was thinking I couldn’t see anything disturbing like Joker movie but those parts of the book really agitated me as well)

And the good and evil’s never ending fight, all those biblical references, the parts about the way of people’s atonement of their sins were too compelling subjects in this young and innocent child’s world.

I think with omitted parts ( especially the last parts of the book were too long and they kept repeat themselves) and a simpler boy and his imaginary friend’s story not about heavy biblical subjects, but a story about a boy’s loneliness and naivety to imagine wrong kind of best friend would work better for me!

But as a summary, my 3 point 5 stars eventually rounded up to 4 because I love spooky, haunted, nail biter, dark stories and I enjoyed most part of the book. It’s a thrilling, entertaining but also exhausting reading. I hope I don’t scream too much in my sleep this night (Don’t worry, this book didn’t scare me like that but my husband learned to imitate Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker laughter and as soon as I close my eyes at night, he performs very same laughter in the silence of the night like a heartless creature. So this month I decided to read more horror books because real life and vengeful husbands who were dissatisfied with my cooking performance were scarier than the books! Trust me! I learned from the hardest way!) ...more

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Sep 15, 2019 Chelsea Humphrey rated it really liked it

Recommended to Chelsea by: Grand Central Publishing

Shelves: scared-suspense-reads, bookstagram-made-me-do-it, from-publisher

Now available as a BOTM add on starting in October!

Long ago, books stopped terrifying me in the way that people search out from the likes of gory, graphic horror films. Somewhere upon entering adulthood, the paranormal took a backseat to the chills provided by child abuse, sexual assault, and the murder of members of minority groups who never gain an ounce of justice, but this book terrified me in ways that I haven't experienced in over a decade, mainly due to combining paranormal AND realistic ...more

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Oct 17, 2019 Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) rated it it was ok

This started off really strong, but I gotta be honest with you all: I completely stopped giving a shit about this at about the 65% mark. This book was just way too long with not enough pay off. The biggest meh.

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Oct 08, 2019 jessica rated it really liked it

how in the world did stephen chbosky go from writing 'we accept the love we think we deserve' to an entire book dedicated to a child haunted by horrifying imaginary people?!

i guess 20 years between books is enough time for an author to change. and in this case, 20 years to plan stephen kings demise. because holy crap. this is the creepiest thing ive ever read, in the most bizarre way possible.

this actually reminded me a lot of ‘stranger things’ - strange things happen, its a little spooky and ...more

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Aug 13, 2019 Liz Barnsley rated it did not like it

This morning I FINALLY managed to finish Imaginary Friend. I started this book and was immediately hooked. It was uber creepy, really well written, I was loving it.

Sadly it was all downhill from there. 700+ pages of which maybe half ended up being relevant/adding to the story. Now I love a tome. I recently read Wanderers which was longer than this one but had zero wasted scenes or words and was an epic that read fast. So it's not the length itself that was an issue. I read King and Tolstoy. ...more

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Aug 13, 2019 Kai rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

"We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us."

Imaginary Friend feels very much like a classic horror novel which is both a good and a bad thing. To begin with, we have a group of young kids, an unknown evil that fills them with fear and despair, a small town on the brink of chaos, and missing dead children from 50 years ago. And it is terribly creepy. When I first read The Perks of Being a Wallflower I remember feeling underwhelmed. I didn’t get why people loved this story so much. "We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us."

Imaginary Friend feels very much like a classic horror novel which is both a good and a bad thing. To begin with, we have a group of young kids, an unknown evil that fills them with fear and despair, a small town on the brink of chaos, and missing dead children from 50 years ago. And it is terribly creepy. When I first read The Perks of Being a Wallflower I remember feeling underwhelmed. I didn’t get why people loved this story so much. Neither writing nor plot managed to catch my interest, but maybe I wasn’t ready when I first read it. Rewatching the film years later showed me what a beautiful and moving story Chbosky had created.

But with IF I was immediately drawn into the world of Christopher who vanishes into the woods for six whole days just to turn up again unharmed, but with a desperate need to build a treehouse in the middle of the Mission Street Woods. And something else has changed: his dyslexia is gone, he is suddenly the best kid in his maths class, and he seems to know what people feel and think.

It was creepy as hell, I had goosebumps 24/7 and no clue about what was happening. Never did I think that I would devour these 700 pages in three days but that’s exactly what happened. The writing was compelling, the characters felt real, and I really needed to know what the fuck was going on or I would DIE. So far so good, but things changed around the 500-page mark. There was a big twist, which, although I didn’t see it coming, didn’t catch me unaware. Mainly because it felt too simplified and unoriginal. It wouldn’t have bothered me much, though, if the story had been taken to a clean and satisfying ending. But what followed were 200 pages that should have been 100 pages, or maybe 70. You know when there is a final battle with the biggest bully on the lot and you know this is it, it’s live or die? That didn’t only happen once, it happened three times. It wasn’t just repetitive at this point, it was a big mess. And even though I had really enjoyed – loved – the story until that point, it couldn’t hold my attention and fascination any longer.
It was made even worse by Chbosky’s use of redundant tropes that put female characters in over-sexualised and violated roles. I honestly expected better of him. Chbosky is a great storyteller who proved repeatedly that he has what it takes to tell heartfelt stories with characters that feel real, that are relatable. So why did he suddenly feel the need to make use of tropes such as the prude catholic girl tempted by sin, why did he have to degrade most of his central female characters by ripping off their clothes, violating their bodies, by turning them into madwomen haunted by unfeeling or violent men? I’m not criticising the fact that he made violence and abuse part of a female character’s story. Sadly, that is far from unrealistic. But he exploited them and used their pain for shock value like countless male authors have done before him. It’s a limited and frankly antiquated way of writing female voices.

Overall, this novel would have been a new favourite if it had paid more attention to plotting and characterisation.

Find more of my books on Instagram ...more

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Oct 29, 2019 Charlotte May rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: end-of-the-world, faith, favourites, retelling-fairytale, horror

Wow! I’ll tell you now, this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but it was 100% up my street.

Mind bending, so incredibly clever with such beautiful and heartfelt language and messages. I’m astonished and reviewing this is gonna be bloody hard.

"He knew how he found the skeleton. He knew that the bones had been there for a long time. He even thought he knew the name of the kid who died. But he couldn't tell the grown-ups that. Because eventually, they would ask him how he knew everything. And he ...more

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May 10, 2019 Tammy rated it liked it

Perks of Being a Wallflower was not part of my adolescence and I’m not much of a horror reader although I do enjoy it every once in a great while. So, I’m not quite the right reader for this ambitious novel. Needless to say twenty years after the publication of Perks, Imaginary Friend is quite a departure for Chbosky. As is fairly typical of horror novels, the main conflict is good vs. evil, God vs. the devil and so on and so forth. The kids-in-jeopardy trope is in full swing which echoes King ...more

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Jul 14, 2019 Whitney Atkinson rated it it was ok

Shelves: wheres-your-editor, sent-from-pub, ebook

I'll be first to admit that I never read horror, nor do I have the interest, but I wanted to give Stephen Chbosky a try just because he was an iconic author of my teenage years. But this..... wasn't it. Even from the objective perspective of someone not into horror, especially paranormal/fantastical horror, this was a longwinded mess.

This book started out strong to trick you to read on, but the ending was catastrophically terrible. The first 25% is basically what the synopsis describes, and then I'll be first to admit that I never read horror, nor do I have the interest, but I wanted to give Stephen Chbosky a try just because he was an iconic author of my teenage years. But this..... wasn't it. Even from the objective perspective of someone not into horror, especially paranormal/fantastical horror, this was a longwinded mess.

This book started out strong to trick you to read on, but the ending was catastrophically terrible. The first 25% is basically what the synopsis describes, and then afterward, the story truly begins. Let me reiterate that this book is 700 pages long and the first quarter of the book is just exposition. From 25% to 75%, this book actually had a lot of good parts. It kept me guessing, it had twists and turns, it had a few creepy partys. But then the ending just became overwritten, incomprehensible plot divided between two worlds and between a cast of 10 characters. The writing was average at best throughout the book, but the end of the book just became totally ridiculous with all the characters screaming LIKE THIS!!!! at each other multiple times a page, aNd ThE viLLaiN oF thE boOk tAlkS liKe tHis. I skim read the last 10% just in search of answers, but this book provided none. I have no idea what the conflict of the book was and why any of the villains were wreaking havoc on the world. The main plot twist at the end just made the entire situation more confusing and everything got so muddled in the end that it's making me regret spending TWO WEEKS reading this massive book only for it to be so completely a let down because the plot doesn't actually get resolved in a way that makes sense. Chbosky just kept on dragging the conflict out even though he could have ended everything 500 pages earlier, with SO much unnecessary inner monologue that dragged out the pace even more.

Maybe if you like fantastical thrillers with religious/spiritual undertones you would enjoy this more, but in my opinion, just save your time and read Stephen King or something.
...more

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Oct 28, 2019 Matt rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, thriller

“Death is coming! Death is here! We’ll die on Christmas Day!”
- Stephen Chbosky, Imaginary Friend

Holy wow.

This is a tough one to talk about.

For about 600 of this book’s 700 pages, I was fully committed and absolutely on board. I was enjoying every page of Stephen Chbosky’s Imaginary Friend, marveling at the intricate plotting, the engaging characters, the slam-bang set-pieces, and the utter uniqueness of the premise, even as I mentally ticked off all the influences (A Nightmare on Elm Street, ...more

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Dec 08, 2019 ELLIAS (elliasreads) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, i-own, 2019-books

Y’all are fools.
This 3.54 star rating? It’s all a lie.

5 BIG ASS STARS

If A Nightmare on Elm Street and Coraline had a baby together: Imaginary Friend.

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Oct 14, 2019 Matt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

In this stunning thriller by Stephen Chbosky, the reader is taken through a dark world where a young boy holds a great deal of power in his small Pennsylvania community. After fleeing Michigan, Christopher Reece and his mother, Kate, end up in the Pittsburgh area, ready for a new start. Things begin in a problematic manner for young Christopher, who is ridiculed for being different and finds himself struggling with some learning disabilities. When Christopher goes exploring in the forest close In this stunning thriller by Stephen Chbosky, the reader is taken through a dark world where a young boy holds a great deal of power in his small Pennsylvania community. After fleeing Michigan, Christopher Reece and his mother, Kate, end up in the Pittsburgh area, ready for a new start. Things begin in a problematic manner for young Christopher, who is ridiculed for being different and finds himself struggling with some learning disabilities. When Christopher goes exploring in the forest close to his home, he is not heard from again for six days. When he’s found roaming around by a passing vehicle, he cannot remember what happened or where he had been for that time, save that the ‘nice man’ helped guide him home. Christopher is transformed after this ordeal, seeming not to be the same little boy any longer. His intelligence is through the roof and he seems to have made a good social connection at school. When Christopher and his friends dig up the skeleton of a child inadvertently while constructing a treehouse, things take an even darker turn. Christopher is seen whispering to himself, explaining that it is his imaginary friend, while people in the town begin to experience numerous signs of sickness. A number of dark events take place and Christopher is called back to his treehouse by the ‘nice man’, as they try to locate and defeat an apparition called the ‘hissing woman’. By the time things appear to settle down, Christopher develops a horrible fever and is rushed to the hospital, while forces on both sides of the real and his imagined world wage war for his future being. Intensely chilling and full of twists that the reader will likely not expect, Chbosky entertains readers with a dark thriller that will surely linger for long after the final page has been read. Recommended to those who love a thriller that takes them to the darkest reaches of evil, as well as the reader who enjoys something that is complex and captivating in equal measure.

Having never read any Stephen Chbosky before this book, I was not sure what to expect. I was pulled deep into the story in the opening pages, unable to push back. I needed to know everything that happened and how Christopher might be able to extricate himself from the situation that fell into his lap. Christopher Reece appears to be the major protagonist, though I could argue that there are many, depending on which thread of the narrative the reader finds the most captivating. Young Christopher is trying to put his life in order after yet another move with a flighty mother, though seems to find a great deal of comfort in his imaginary friend, particularly after the six day disappearance. Christopher changes significantly at this point, pulling the story along with him into dark and secretive subplots that will keep the reader guessing. Many others hold their own plots within the book, enhancing the work of Christopher, as well as dealing with their own troubles. Chbosky develops a strong set of storylines that utilise his characters to their fullest. The overall story is not as ‘sci-fi’ as it may seem, though there is a great deal of horror and dark thrills that fill the pages, leaving the reader to wonder what they may have signed on to read. With haunting religious symbolism throughout, Chbosky does not let up, spinning haunting aspects and chilling resolutions, while keeping the reader wondering until the final sentence lingers above the page. I have not read such a long book with such interest or determination in a long time. I can only hope to find more in this genre soon.

Kudos, Mr. Chbosky, for an explosive story and stellar characters. I will be looking for more of your work, particularly if it offers the same impact.

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... ...more

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Jun 20, 2019 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it liked it

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

3.5 Stars

“A nightmare is nothing but a dream gone sick.”

Where do I even begin when it comes to the release of this (20 year) long awaited tome? I guess the easiest thing to do is address the obvious. For those of you who have been anticipating a new Perks to fall in love with, I have some bad news . . . .

There is no Charlie to be had here. Instead, there is a Christopher. A little boy who recently moved to small-town Pennsylvania ...more

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Jun 01, 2019 Chandra Claypool (wherethereadergrows) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: astoria-bookshop-arcs, arc

"A nightmare is nothing more than a dream gone sick."

This book.... THIS BOOK. I never read Perks of Being a Wallflower but what I do know is that this author went to a completely different genre with this young adult horror fiction read. Is it worth every 700+ page? You bet your ass it is.

To begin with, the main character's name is Christopher Reese - this made it somewhat sentimental to me because my family became very close with the Reese family when we lived in Italy. Their youngest was "A nightmare is nothing more than a dream gone sick."

This book.... THIS BOOK. I never read Perks of Being a Wallflower but what I do know is that this author went to a completely different genre with this young adult horror fiction read. Is it worth every 700+ page? You bet your ass it is.

To begin with, the main character's name is Christopher Reese - this made it somewhat sentimental to me because my family became very close with the Reese family when we lived in Italy. Their youngest was their son, Christopher who became a brother to me over the years and somehow that made this is a bit sentimental to me. Both have a strong relationship with their mothers and both are the best and sweetest boys. Listen, if you can find something in your real life that anchors you to the fictional life in the book you're reading, it absolutely makes a difference.

There were also a couple of incidents that truly reminded me of my childhood. Being pulled under a bed (or that feeling that something or someone was under there) was always a nightmare for me as a child (and once I woke up halfway under the bed, so yeah...) and that creepy ice cream truck jingle... UFF. Both are mentioned and just grabbed that inner child within me all the more. Even to this day, when the many ice cream trucks roam my neighbor at the weirdest night time hours, it still makes my blood turn cold.

Now, this book is just extremely engaging. Even with all 700+ pages, the chapters are short and I love the various tiny changes to format riddled within. You'll know what I mean when you pick up your copy, and I encourage you to make sure to put this on your TBR. This book is chock full of lessons. A relationship between a mother and son - Christopher and how he takes care of his mother while she feels guilty for not being the mother she thinks she needs to be. Faith, shown especially within Mary Katherine and where we get our first hints of the religious undertones of this novel. The good versus evil and how nothing is especially what it seems - especially in the Imaginary World - STAY ON THE STREETS! The loyalty of your childhood group of friends. The past coming to haunt you and how you move forward in any type of life. I could go on and on and on.

While I absolutely consider this my favorite of the year so far, there are a couple of things that didn't quite work for me. The children being 7, made it a little bit implausible - if they were just a few years older, it would've made that slight difference. Some things may feel a bit repetitive but personally I didn't mind this at all and I think that honed in on certain pieces of the story. However, the baby teeth as a description definitely stuck in my head - I wish that could've been identified with something different or not described repetitively throughout the read. But these are just nit picks that I can overlook because of the impact this story had on me. Some people may think this could've been shortened but I think every single page worked to tell this multifaceted story.

For me, this has that NOS4A2 creepy vibe, "kids group fighting evil" King vibe with that Burton-esque feel. I would absolutely LOVE to see this adapted. The hissing woman, the mailbox people and the nice man - each told and described in a tone that set you on your journey with Christopher in the Imaginary World and boy oh boy, these will be anchored in my mind for quite some time. And let me tell you what, I hope I don't run into deer anytime soon (or ever).

Basically, put this on your TBR, keep an open mind and set aside a few hours to really let this story seep into your blood stream. I'll see you on the other side.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for this early release.
...more

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Feb 12, 2018 destiny ♡⚔♡ [howling libraries] marked it as dnf

Shelves: owned-digital

After a lot of internal debate, I've finally decided to put this one to rest. I was so tremendously excited to read this that I picked it up as an ARC and read the first 30% or so, but then I set it down months ago and was never able to convince myself to put it back up. After numerous attempts now to resume it, I'm finally accepting the fact that I'm simply not invested enough in this story to bother. Chbosky is a brilliant writer and I stand by that, but the plot of this book simply does not ...more

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Oct 10, 2019 Gabby rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: fans of Stephen King

Shelves: 4-star-books, adult, own, thrillers-or-mystery, hate-the-ending, favorites, liked-it, 500-or-more-pages, all-time-favorites, arc-or-won-or-received

This 700 page book was a wild ride. This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year because I adore Stephen Chbosky and I couldn't be more curious to see what he does with the horror/thriller genre, and this book did not disappoint for the most part.

I recorded my entire experience reading this book in a reading vlog so I'm just gonna leave that here if you're curious to hear my thoughts: https://youtu.be/4Apl4du60fs

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Oct 13, 2019 Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror

4.0 Stars
Wow - now I understand why other readers love epic horror!
Video Review: https://youtu.be/tXRuZKydia4

This was an incredibly engaging narrative that pulled me in from the very first page. While I normally struggle with long horror novels, I flew through this seven hundred page tome incredibly fast. The characters were incredibly likeable and writing was spot on. The narrative was certainly reminiscent of some of Stephen King’s epic works with similar themes, yet this novel stood on its 4.0 Stars
Wow - now I understand why other readers love epic horror!
Video Review: https://youtu.be/tXRuZKydia4

This was an incredibly engaging narrative that pulled me in from the very first page. While I normally struggle with long horror novels, I flew through this seven hundred page tome incredibly fast. The characters were incredibly likeable and writing was spot on. The narrative was certainly reminiscent of some of Stephen King’s epic works with similar themes, yet this novel stood on its own.

I have not read Perks of Being a Wallflower and instead picked this book up because of the genre. Unlike his iconic young adult novel, this one was definitely aimed at adults with plenty of mature subject matter, including sexual content and abuse. Yet, I think this novel has a lot of crossover appeal for younger readers who are ready to venture into adult fiction. This felt like a very accessible piece of horror fiction with an strong narraive and relatable plot. I would love to see this book become an entry point for YA readers who want to venture into the adult horror genre.

One of the things that I loved so much about this novel was that it was so well constructed. The author sprinkled so many clues throughout the story that would become pieces of a larger puzzle. It was so satisfying when tiny details from early on suddenly became relevant hundreds of pages later. The build up in the first four hundred pages was absolute perfection. Told through multiple perspectives, this novel pulled together so many narrative threads into a streamlined story of epic proportions.

Readers should be aware that there are heavy religious themes in this novel. Like many horror epic, this one played on the classic theme of good versus evil. Yet, this one took that to another level with a particularly strong focus on Christianity. Those metaphors were very heavy handed and even could even feel preachy to readers that prefer religion to stay out of their fiction.

Without going into spoilers, I need to talk about the ending. If this book had a different (better) ending, it easily would have gotten a full five star rating from me. In general, the horror genre is known for having weak or bad endings and unfortunately this book suffered from that fate. To be clear, I did not hate the ending, but I have to admit that I was pretty disappointed. I wanted to love the ending so badly because I loved just about everything else about this book, but I couldn’t. The best way to describe the ending is “messy”, which was unfortunate because the rest of the book was SO well constructed. There was climax after climax, which just drew out the ending too much. Furthermore, the religious themes were too “on the nose” for my tastes. Thankfully, I am not the kind of reader where a weak ending ruins the entire reading experience for me. I still enjoyed the rest of the story enough to give the book a solid four star rating.

So despite its imperfections, I still highly enjoyed this story. If you are someone who can forgive a good book for having a weak ending, then I would recommend trying out this novel for yourself. There is so much to love here. ...more

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Oct 07, 2019 Faith rated it did not like it

Shelves: audio, overdrive

Started ok, but dragged on way too long. It really should have been half its length. I skimmed to the end and my rating kept shedding stars as I plowed through the nonsense. I am not a fan of Christian fiction and if it had been advertised as such I never would have started the book, and I would have been spared.

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Feb 07, 2019 ✨ jamieson ✨ marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: random-choice-tbr, anticipated-2019

STEPHEN CHBOSKY

AUTHOR OF THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER???????

AKA THE BOOK THAT DEFINED MY HIGH SCHOOL YEARS AND STILL MAKES ME CRY ????

THIS IS IT CHIEF

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Oct 08, 2019 Rebecca McNutt rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, horror, mystery

I wasn't a big fan of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but I love horror novels and this book has been the whispered-about upcoming pet project of Stephen Chbosky for years, so I definitely wanted to read it. I had noticed some negative reviews, but still it looked like it would be an interesting story with a unique plot, and the topic of imaginary friends in the realm of horror is a trope which offers numerous possibilities. It's an excessively large book, with over 700 pages to go through, but I wasn't a big fan of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but I love horror novels and this book has been the whispered-about upcoming pet project of Stephen Chbosky for years, so I definitely wanted to read it. I had noticed some negative reviews, but still it looked like it would be an interesting story with a unique plot, and the topic of imaginary friends in the realm of horror is a trope which offers numerous possibilities. It's an excessively large book, with over 700 pages to go through, but I love giant books so that made it even more appealing.

Honestly, I didn't love Imaginary Friend, and after reading it, I can understand the sentiment from some other readers that it's been rather overhyped, but I didn't find it bad, either. It's a likeable story with some undertones of Stephen King's works such as The Shining and Bag of Bones, and horror films common of the late 1990's - early 2000's time period like The Ring, The Sixth Sense and Dark Water. I found myself often wondering while reading it if maybe the author had been inspired by these. It wasn't particularly original though, and it often felt very dragged-out more often than not. It was very repetitive and the characters quickly got on my nerves. It didn't remind me of Chbosky's earlier novel, and it felt almost like he was trying too hard to write in the way that he perceives the public wants from a horror story. Its plot is all over the place and the writing is hard to follow (there are many choppy sentences and an odd structural style).

That all said, Imaginary Friend does have its moments here and there, and there were a few instances where the writing was very memorable and quite impressive. I found the first half of the book (before the plot became muddled with a confusing sea of characters and some sort of split setting which I don't think I entirely got the gist of because I was speed-reading at that point) to be better than the rest. The first half of the book manages some creepy scenes, sets up the drama of a mother trying to protect her son effectively, and hooks its readers to want to stay engaged with the story. It's not a book for everyone and I imagine those who love it will really love it, and those who hate it will really hate it. Like many of Stephen King's larger works, Stephen Chbosky's Imaginary Friend has ambitious ideas, but has a tendency to get lost in itself and to indulge in things so excessively that it becomes redundant and puzzling after a while. ...more

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Sep 13, 2019 Steven rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-in-2019, netgalley-or-publisher, horror

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I can't believe I didn't DNF this one. It was over 700 pages, and at least half of that could have been edited out to tighten up the plot and get to the action faster. There was a lot of repetition, and seriously, there were multiple climax points of the story. The "big final battle" happened three or four times. Much of the story never made sense, and if it was allegorical, well, it ...more

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Sep 16, 2019 Dennis rated it really liked it

Recommended to Dennis by: Chelsea Humphrey

Shelves: 2019-pub, horror, fantasy, 2019-read, supernatural, scaredsuspensebookclub, suspense

Wow, this book. THIS BIZARRE AND HAUNTING BOOK. When I was in high school, Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower really helped me get a grip on my own inner demons, and it helped me accept myself and my differences with my other classmates in school. That being said, when I heard Chbosky was releasing a book 20 years later, I was curious about it's conception. After reading the synopsis; seeing it as a literary horror/supernatural tale of epic proportions, I knew I needed to get my Wow, this book. THIS BIZARRE AND HAUNTING BOOK. When I was in high school, Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower really helped me get a grip on my own inner demons, and it helped me accept myself and my differences with my other classmates in school. That being said, when I heard Chbosky was releasing a book 20 years later, I was curious about it's conception. After reading the synopsis; seeing it as a literary horror/supernatural tale of epic proportions, I knew I needed to get my hands on it!

Imaginary Friend focuses on seven-year old Christopher Reese and his mother Kate. They are moving into a new small town in Western Pennsylvania after escaping Kate's abusive ex-boyfriend. As they settle into their new suburban surroundings, Christopher continues to struggle at work. Christopher is dyslexic, but optimistic, so optimistic, about trying to overcome his shortcomings (I really do love this protagonist so much). When his mother is late to picking him up from school one day, things take a turn for the worse—Christopher disappears for six days! When he returns, everything is not quite what it seems. What exactly happened during those six days will change Christopher and his mother's lives forever.

I have never read anything more original than Imaginary Friend . It's clearly a vision that Chbosky held onto for awhile before being able to accurately portray it properly. The imagery in Imaginary Friend is hands down some of the best I've ever read—the beautiful and vivid descriptions and story telling not only amazed me, but let my mind escape into this world. I was completely engulfed and let my imagination run wild with the story. I truly feel that this book has some of the best storytelling that I ever read in my entire life. For 80% of the book, it proved to be one of the most interesting and compelling novels—a sure way to claim the role as my favorite book ever.

I had to take a star off my near perfect rating because the end tends to spiral—even though the ending is unexpected and still very original—because it's quite difficult to follow. Plus, with Christopher and his friends only being seven years old, it made me question some aspects of the story. If Christopher and his friends were older, I may have not had as many questions.

Overall, Imaginary Friend is a phenomenal story that readers will definitely be sure to enjoy this fall. I would LOVE to see this book become a movie, because I really think there's never been a story like this before. When you read it, please let me know because I need someone to talk to about it! This book will resonate with me for some time. ...more

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Sep 01, 2019 Carrie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

Yes, my title on this post is absolutely correct for those that know of Stephen Chbosky’s earlier works in the young adult contemporary genre, this new title is definitely some chilling horror. There are even some similarities to the horror master himself, Stephen King in Chbosky’s new novel.

The story begins following single mother Kate Reese and her son Christopher who have made a new home in Mill Grove, Pennsylvania after fleeing an abusive relationship. Mill Grove seemed like the perfect ...more

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Oct 22, 2019 ABookwormWithWine rated it really liked it

Shelves: adult-fiction, atmospheric, buddy-reads, chilling, creepy-undertones, male-authors, supernatural-suspense, murder-mystery-thriller, owned-copy, horror

/ 5

Welcome to the world of mailbox people and the hissing lady, Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky was the perfect creepy October read!

According to an interview with Chbosky that I read on npr.org, it took him about 10 years to write Imaginary Friend, TEN YEARS!! I can only imagine the journey he went on writing this novel. There are plenty of dark themes, and focus on things like relationships, good versus evil and religion, but most importantly LOTS of the creepy and chilling. If I had to ...more

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Jan 01, 2020 Brittany rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, mystery, paranormal, spiritual, 2020-challenge, fantasy-paranormal, reviews, fiction

Well, the ending was worth pushing through to get to but maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan was the journey long. I wish this book was about 300 pages shorter because it would have been told in a more concise way.

There was a lot of early Stephen King feel to the book, especially in the length that could easily be cut. Reminded me of reading the uncut version of The Stand. This was another Good vs Evil with many players. I did enjoy the mother-son relationship and the way that guilt was shown in many ways. ...more

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Dec 11, 2019 Dannii Elle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: horror-hazes, fantastic-fabrications

“We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us.”

Christopher and his mother have spent his young life on the run. First from the image of a deceased father that continues to haunt them, and then from the abusive figure that replaced him. Sanctuary seems to have been found in a small American town and even the clouds are smiling down on them as they begin their new life away from all real fears, but not from all imagined ones...

Stephen Chobsky begins the book with an introduction that pays “We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us.”

Christopher and his mother have spent his young life on the run. First from the image of a deceased father that continues to haunt them, and then from the abusive figure that replaced him. Sanctuary seems to have been found in a small American town and even the clouds are smiling down on them as they begin their new life away from all real fears, but not from all imagined ones...

Stephen Chobsky begins the book with an introduction that pays homage to another great Stephen in literature, Mr King. But, for me, it felt unnecessary as the entire book read like an homage to the legendary horror writer. So many facets from his stories could be found here and yet I never felt like this diminished Chobsky in any way, as I adored what he created.

I found this lighter on the horror than I had anticipated, but it still worked for me as there were many previously unforeseen elements that were continually added in. The most major or these was the struggle between good and evil, that dominated much of the story-line. This, alongside the multiple biblical images and mentions, made this a thought-provoking read, and one that continued to compel my intrigue and interest when I wasn't actively reading it. It was exhausting work, in the best possible way, as it consistently had me puzzling over clues, unsure of the path ahead, colluding with certain characters, and having every notion I thought was correct broken and reset multiple times.

The story was amazing all round, but what also really shone through was Chobsky's attention to emotional detail. His characters struggled in many areas and he made the reader feel every ounce of what they exuded, rather than just read about it. This book physically hurt! Child protagonists just hit differently for me, and seeing Christopher continually suffer and live in a state of fear made me root for his deliverance from evil all the more.

This was an entirely addictive read and I'm excited to see where else this author can take us, I only hope I don't have to wait another twenty years to find it! ...more

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Sep 17, 2019 Janelle | She Reads with Cats rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror, mystery-suspense-thriller, to-be-reviewed, 2019, from-publisher

Thank you Grand Central Publishing for my copy.

Stephen Chbosky’s IMAGINARY FRIEND is 720 pages but I promise it is worth every single haunting page. I switched back and forth between the audiobook and physical copy which I highly recommend.

Kate Reese escapes an abusive boyfriend with her seven-year-old son Christopher in order to make a better life and ends up in a small suburban town in Pennsylvania called Mill Grove. Christopher is such a sweet, optimistic kid who continues to struggle in ...more

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Nov 27, 2019 Jenny Baker rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019, horror, audiobooks

I’m not even sure how to review this, so I’m just going to say whatever comes to mind and hope it helps you in some way.

This is the weirdest book I’ve ever read. Keep in mind that I’ve read almost 50 Stephen King novels, so that should tell you the level of weirdness you can expect. I still loved it and I couldn’t stop reading. Actually, I did a read-along with the hardback and the audiobook on Overdrive.

Christine Lakin does a fantastic job narrating the audiobook, but some of the book is I’m not even sure how to review this, so I’m just going to say whatever comes to mind and hope it helps you in some way.

This is the weirdest book I’ve ever read. Keep in mind that I’ve read almost 50 Stephen King novels, so that should tell you the level of weirdness you can expect. I still loved it and I couldn’t stop reading. Actually, I did a read-along with the hardback and the audiobook on Overdrive.

Christine Lakin does a fantastic job narrating the audiobook, but some of the book is visual, because it relies on formatting to get certain messages across such as uppercase letters in the middle of words and dialogue that’s all in lower case.

The summary doesn’t really tell you much, not enough in my opinion. The story is completely unpredictable, but I love it when I have no idea what will happen next. It kept me reading just to find out. There were times when I was a little confused, because I didn’t know if something was actually happening in the real world, the imaginary world, or if it was a dream. Eventually, the fog cleared.

Every character sounds a little off in some way and some of that is because this book is very atmospheric. I really like the creepy tone. It’s also bloody and a little, but I don’t mind, because I love horror.

The pacing was a little slow at times. I think the author was trying to build suspense, but in the process, he made the book longer than it needed to be and gave parts of the book a melodramatic tone. Still, the suspense was killing me, because I knew something big and creepy was lurking around the corner. There was one other thing I didn’t like, but it was something small. I don’t like that one place was called Shady Pines. Anyone who watched the TV show The Golden Girls would know the reference.

I can see readers having polar opinions of this one. This has a heavy religious theme, especially the last half of the book and a theme of good versus evil. The religious theme may be a turn off for some readers. I think this book is more suitable for horror fans that enjoy bizarre stories and a heavy dose of WTF?
...more

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Oct 03, 2019 Nursebookie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-ebook, suspense, thrillers, blog-ig-feature, mystery, grandcentralpub, arc-physical, books-i-own

Kate Reese and her son Christopher, flees an abusive relationship in the middle of the night and end up in the small community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania - just one highway in, one highway out.
Everything seems to be going well until Christopher disappears for six days. When Christopher was found, he seems to be a different person – one who doesn’t struggle with reading or learning, helping her mother win the lottery, and a voice that is telling him to build a treehouse in the woods by ...more

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Jul 18, 2019 Kyra Leseberg (Roots & Reads) rated it liked it

Shelves: arc

Okay dear readers, gather around for a segment called "Unpopular Opinion Time".

Imaginary Friend was THE most highly anticipated novel of 2019 for me . I have waited t w e n t y years for a new novel from Stephen Chbosky! His debut novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower is my favorite book of all time so of course I've been looking forward to what he would write next. I was thrilled to learn last year that Chbosky had penned an epic 700 page horror story.

I finished Imaginary Friend yesterday and ...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Horror Aficionados : * January 2020 Group Read #1- Imaginary Friend	95	286	Jan 20, 2020 08:05AM
Letras Macabras: Amigo Imaginario	34	94	Jan 18, 2020 02:34PM
Madison County NC...: Imaginary Friend-Stephen Chbosky	1	2	Jan 15, 2020 12:16PM
What is the imaginary world?	3	9	Jan 12, 2020 08:26PM

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About Stephen Chbosky

Stephen Chbosky

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Stephen Chbosky grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the University of Southern California's Filmic Writing Program. His first film, The Four Corners of Nowhere, premiered at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win Best Narrative Feature honors at the Chicago Underground Film Festival.

He is the recipient of the Abraham Polonsky Screenwriting Award for his screenplay ...more